The year hasn’t even ended but from the cabinet reshuffle, to #StateCapture, to Bonang’s book, and everything in between, 2017 has been a difficult year to make sense of. Let’s help you understand why you went through the most this year, and what every moment was preparing you for.

CABINET RESHUFFLE X2

First on the list is the cabinet reshuffle. Almost everybody was caught off gaurd by the first cabinet reshuffle, some people even thought they would be reshuffled as South Africans to foreigners. The lesson here was, “Never trust anyone because you might just be betrayed or reshuffled.”

Surely the president that will be elected in the 2019 national elections will learn a thing or two from the current president; and not reshuffle a cabinet twice in one year.

STATE CAPTURE

State capture became a popular phrase in the country earlier this year. The Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb) found that ‘State Capture’ was used 20‚231 times in over 11‚000 South African newspapers.

From this hashtag one can learn that South Africans are not hesitant to call out people who ‘capture’ their country but let’s hope in years to come, they will do more than just calling out ‘captures’.

BLACK COFFEE EMBRACED HIS INJURED ARM

The BET award winning musician, Nkosinathi Maphumulo better known as Black Coffee said his confidence was slowly growing after previously putting himself down.

“We all have little/big things that we don’t like about ourselves and we often put ourselves down before other people do, I’m personally working towards breaking those chains in my space and I believe with this I’m gonna unlock even more opportunities for myself. Don’t let anything pull you down. Fight for the best version of yourself,” he wrote.

In 2018 may you be yourself unapologetically and realise that the things that make you different, can be your greatest strengths.

BONANG’S BOOK: FROM A TO B

Social media users criticised the book for its ‘grammatical errors’. The book became a talking point on social media after users pointed out that Bonang’s birthday was published a June 24, when it is on June 25. Twitter users also shared screenshots of a page where words were missing.

Though the media mogul took full responsibility for the errors and corrected them, tweeps made it clear that they will not waste money on buying corrections. The lesson here is, if you want to make money, you need to use money; hire and pay good editors and proofreaders.

JUNK STATUS

In April this year, South Africa was downgraded to junk status after an emergency S&P (Standard & Poor’s) meeting thanks to President Jacob Zuma’s first cabinet reshuffle. Most people knew it was not a good thing but didn’t know what exactly it meant and why should they care.

The lesson is, in 2018 make sure you take interest in things that affect you, do your research and find out how you some things may affect you.

BABES WODUMO EXCITED ABOUT US TRIP BUT HAS NO VISA

Wololo hitmaker Babes Wodumo’s BET dream never came true after visa issues prevented her from attending the awards. Reports in daily newspapers claimed the singer and her partner, Mampintsha applied for their visa too late.

Twitter roasted Babes for not knowing that in order to go to the United States, one needs a visa. But guess what, in 2018 you will be ready for such things because Babes involuntarily prepared you for them. Get your passport and remember you need a visa to travel to most countries outside of Africa.